Proposal for a Council Regulation fixing for 2013 the fishing opportunities available in EU waters and, to EU vessels, in certain non-EU waters for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks which are subject to international negotiations or agreements

All fishing opportunities regulations must limit the harvesting of the fish stocks to levels which must be consistent with the overall objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). In this respect, Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy sets out the objectives for the annual proposals for catch and fishing effort limitations to ensure that Union fisheries are ecologically, economically and socially sustainable.

The key feature of the annual fishing opportunities exercise is in fact its short-term nature. This is due essentially to historical reasons, relating to the way in which the CFP provides for the sharing of the maritime space and the resources therein among national Union fleets. It is important to maintain an annually-renewed process for this Union-wide pact at the basis of the CFP. However, this does not stand in the way of the introduction of long-term management approaches. The Union has made good progress in this regard and key stocks of commercial interest are now subject to multi-annual management plans. Yearly TACs and effort ceilings must comply with them.

This proposal concerns fishing opportunities that are available to Union vessels in Union and non-EU waters and to third country vessels fishing in Union waters as a result of decisions agreed in multilateral or bilateral fora. In preparing for international negotiations, the Union forms a position based on scientific advice and its own policy objectives, which apply equally to internal decisions. The outcome of such negotiations implies the Union's consent to assume obligations vis-à-vis third parties. The Union has no substantive margin of discretion beyond the internal allocation among Member States when it comes to implementing such decisions in Union law. As for internal allocation, the principle of relative stability applies.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)668: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:668:FIN

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